Motor vehicles typically have windows which are vertically movable between raised and lowered positions. It is common to provide a downstop which is engaged by the window when it is fully lowered to the open position to prevent further downward movement of the window. These downstops are usually resilient members carried by a bracket which is welded or otherwise mounted to the body structure or the door of the vehicle. The downstop is engaged by the lower edge of the window when the window is fully lowered by the window regulator mechanism.
It is also known to provide a downstop on the sector gear of the window regulator to stop the window movement by stopping the rotation of the sector gear.
The aforedescribed prior art downstop has been successful in operation but requires a separate bracket to be assembled onto the vehicle door or the body structure. Accordingly it has been recognized as desirable to provide a downstop which would be accommodated within the window regulating mechanism itself to thereby obviate the need to attach any additional bracketry onto the vehicle door. In this regard, U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,627, assigned to the assignee of this invention, provided an elongated slider means which would be captured within the sash channel between the guides carried by the cross arms of the cross arm window regulator so that the slider mechanism would limit the extent to which the cross arms could come together and thereby limit the downward movement of the window.
It is also known to provide a downstop on the sector gear of the window regulator to stop the window movement by stopping the rotation of the sector gear.
The object of the present invention resides in the provision of a window regulator having a stop element projecting from the sash channel into overlying relationship with a lift arm of the regulator so that the stop element comes into engagement with the arm at a predetermined lowered position of the window to thereby prevent any further downward movement of the sash channel and the window.
According to the present invention, a lift arm is pivotally mounted on the motor vehicle and has an end which is connected to the sash channel by a roller or slide. As the lift arm is lowered, the lift arm pivots relative to the sash channel. A stop element in the form of a channel is carried by the sash channel and projects into overlying relationship with the lift arm so that the stop element comes into interfering engagement with the lift arm at a predetermined lowered position of the window to thereby prevent any further relative pivoting movement between the lift arm and the sash channel to thereby stop the window at a lowered position.